Health and Wellness

1. Name: __________________________
HW410: Unit 5 Journal Writing Assignment
EXERCISE 8.1
Reframing: Seeing a Bigger, Clearer Perspective
Anger and fear that arise from encountering a stressful situation can narrow our focus and
distort our perspective on the bigger picture. Although the initial aspects of dealing with
these situations involve some degree of grieving, the secret to coping with stress is to
change the threatening perception to a nonthreatening perception. This worksheet invites
you to identify three stressors and, if necessary, draft a new, “reframed” perspective (not a
rationalization) that allows you to get out of the rut of a myopic view and start moving on
with your life.
Example:
Situation: Can never find a parking space close to the dorm/classroom
Reframed Perspective: Although nearby parking certainly saves time, there is no denying
that the walk provides much needed exercise/activity
1. Situation: Co-workers not shutting the door to our dirty linen closet at work.
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Reframed Perspective: _Shutting the door myself when I walk by rather than getting
irritated that other people don’t.
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2. Situation: _People who don’t go right away when the light turns green and then keep the
rest of us waiting or from being able to make it through the intersection.
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Reframed Perspective: _Not being in such a hurry or impatient that could cause a car
accident.
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3. Situation: When my son’s room looks like a bomb when off inside of it and he is
complaining to me that he cannot find something.
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Reframed Perspective: _Let him be a 12 year old boy and stop freaking out about the
natural disaster going on in his room. If he cannot find something then let him deal with it
or search for it instead of me blowing a gasket over the situation.
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© Paramount Wellness Institute. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
EXERCISE 9.1
Value Assessment and Clarification
Values—those abstract ideal[s] that shape our lives—are important constructs. They give
the conscious mind structure. They can also give countries and governments structure. The
U.S. Declaration of Independence is all about values, including “life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.” Although values are intangible, they are often symbolized by material objects
or possessions, which can make values very real.

3. Some everyday examples of values are love, peace, privacy, education, freedom, happiness,
creativity, fame, integrity, faith, friendship, morals, health, justice, loyalty, honesty, and
independence.
Where do values come from? We adopt values at a very early age, unconsciously, from
people we admire, love, or desire acceptance from, such as our parents, brothers and
sisters, school teachers, and clergy. Values are often categorized into two groups: basic
values, a collection of three to five instrumental values that are the cornerstones of the
foundation of our personalities, and supporting values, which augment our basic values.
Throughout our development we construct a value system, a collection of values that
influences our attitudes and behaviors, all of which make up our personality. If you are not
sure what your values are, look to see where you spend your time and money.
As we mature, our value systems also change because we become accountable for the way
we think and behave. Like the earth’s tectonic plates, our values shift in importance,
causing our own earth to quake. These shifts are called value conflicts, and they can cause
a lot of stress. Classic examples of value conflicts include love versus religious faith or social
class (Romeo and Juliet), freedom versus responsibility, and work versus leisure (the
American Dream). Conflicts in values can be helpful in our own maturing process if we work
through the conflict to a full resolution. Problems arise when we ignore the conflict and
avoid clarifying our value system. The purpose of this journal theme is for you to take an
honest look at your value system, assess its current status, and clarify unresolved issues
associated with values in conflict.
The following are some questions to help you in the process of values assessment and
clarification.
1. Make a list of the core values you hold. (Values come from things that give you meaning
and importance, yet they are abstract in nature.)
2. See if you can identify which of these values are basic, or instrumental, at this point in
your life and which support or augment your basic values.
3. How are your values represented in your possessions? (For example, a BMW may
represent wealth or freedom.)
4. Describe how your values influence your dominant thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs.
5. Do you have any values that compete for priority with one another? If so, what are they,
and why is there a conflict?
6. What do you see as the best way to begin to resolve this conflict in values? Ask yourself
whether it is time to change the priority of your values or perhaps discard values that no
longer give importance to your life.
_1)My core values are: happiness, health, family, friends, safety, success, abundance and
prosperity, balance, career and education. ___
2)Happiness, balance, education and success are basic values in my life. The more
instrumental values are family, health, safety and abundance. All of these both basic and
instrumental either support my immediate needs and wants in life for myself and my son or
futuristic values for our future.
3)My values are represented in my possesions, based on the amount of money I spend on a
healthy, organic and nutritional lifestyle for me and my son. This to me applies to balance,
health and happiness. Without our health we truly have nothing. Additionally, to keep us

4. safe, I live in safe neighborhood that costs a bit more to live in, but applies to my value or
safety and family. Education is part of my abundance and career values.
4)My values influence my dominate thoughts on a regular basis. I am constantly thinking
about health, wellness and abundance for both myself and my son. I do this through
meditation, affirmations, journaling and books that I read. __
5)In some way, my family and my career values compete with one another. Raising my son
and being around for him after school, on weekends and for school and sports events is
extremely important to me. On the other hand, I enjoy working and I truly enjoy what I do
for a living. I want a successful career as a business owner. At times, the desire for this and
the demands of it can compete or interfere with my values as a parent and my availability
to my son. I constantly struggle with balancing these two values.
6)The best way I have found to resolve this conflict is to have boundaries with work. Stay
within the agreed hours and commitments at all times. Know when to leave work alone and
focus on family. Also, to not feel guilty or beat myself up when I am away for work, knowing
that on the average, I spend a lot of quality time with my son. I have never missed a school
or sporting event yet, I am home every night to make dinner, I am off on Saturdays with
him and I send him off to school each morning.
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_9.1 Activity
A death, illness or unexpected event can make values very real. For example: we don’t
always appreciate our health until we are sick. We don’t always appreciate our jobs until we
lose them. We don’t always value our time with our kids until we no longer have that time.
We don’t always value our day to day happiness until we are in an unhappy situation.
Going through a divorce and becoming a single mom has put many of my values in
perspective and added more values that maybe I didn’t have until then either.
I also got in a car accident last summer that forced me shut my massage practice down of
13 years. The value in my health and income became very significant during this time as
well. ___________________________________________________________________
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5. ____________________________________________________________________
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© Paramount Wellness Institute. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
EXERCISE 15.1 The Time-Crunch Questionnaire
The following is a survey based on the traits of the codependent personality. Please answer
the following questions with the most appropriate number.
1 = rarely 2 = sometimes 3 = often
1. I tend to procrastinate with projects and responsibilities. 1 2 3
2. My bedtime varies depending on the workload I have each day. 1 2 3
3. I am the kind of person who leaves things till the last minute. 1 2 3
4. I forget to make To Do lists to keep me organized. 1 2 3
5. I spend more than two hours watching television each night. 1 2 3
6. I tend to have several projects going on at the same time. 1 2 3
7. I tend to put work ahead of family and friends. 1 2 3
8. My life is full of endless interruptions and distractions. 1 2 3
9. I tend to spend a lot of time on the phone. 1 2 3
10. Multi-tasking is my middle name. I am a great multi-tasker. 1 2 3
11. My biggest problem with time management is prioritization. 1 2 3
12. I am a perfectionist when it comes to getting things done. 1 2 3
13. I never seem to have enough time for my personal life. 1 2 3
14. I tend to set unrealistic goals to accomplish tasks. 1 2 3
15. I reward myself before getting things done on time. 1 2 3
16. I just never have enough hours in the day to get things done. 1 2 3
17. I can spend untold hours distracted while surfing the Internet. 1 2 3
18. I tend not to trust others to get things done when I can do them
better myself.
1 2 3
19. If I am completely honest, I tend to be a workaholic. 1 2 3
20. I have been known to skip meals in order to complete projects. 1 2 3
21. I will clean my room, garage, or kitchen before I really get to
work on projects.
1 2 3
22. I will often help friends with their work before doing my own. 1 2 3
23. It’s hard to get motivated to get things done. 1 2 3
Total Score ___40______
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Questionnaire Key
0–25 points = excellent time management skills (keep doing what you are doing!)
50–26 points = fair time management skills (time to pull in the reins a bit)

6. 75–51 points = poor time management skills (time to reevaluate your life skills)

7. 75–51 points = poor time management skills (time to reevaluate your life skills)